Air Pollution: The basics
'Air Pollution' Refers to any substance solid, liquid or gas , natural or manmade which may be harmful to humans or the environment. There are two types of air pollution namely primary and secondary pollution. Primary pollution refers to pollutants directly emitted from a source. Secondary pollutants are pollutants that are not directly generated from a source but they are formed when primary pollutants merge with substances in the air to form secondary pollutants. 'Common air pollutants ' Sulphur Oxide- '''Produced by volcanoes as well as produced during various industrial processes. The burning of coal and petroleum usually produce sulphur oxides as the two items usually contain sulphur compounds. Inhaling small amounts of Sulphur oxides will cause reddening of throat , mild throat and nose irritaion. High concentrations wil cause severe airways obstruction, hypoxemia (Insuffecient oxgenation of the blood ) and pulmonary edema (accumulation of fluids in the lungs) '''Nitrogen Oxides- Produced naturally during thunderstorms and electric discharge as well as high temperature combustions. Nitrous oxide is actually laughing gas Carbon monoxide- Produced by vehicles. Very poisonous . Large amounts can cause death within minutes. Carbon dioxide- Odourless gas produced from combustion, cement production, and humanand plant respiration. Harmless to humans but contributes highly to global warming. Impact of Air Pollution On Economy thumb|300px|right Tourism and recreation resources: For many countries the tourism industry is an importand source of income for the country's economy. Changes to the environmental features will have a direct impact on many tourism destinations which could have far reaching implications. Air pollution put tourism at risk at coastal zones and mountain regions. Coastal tourism is likely to suffer damage from most of the effect of pollution which are evident from turbidity, visibility reduction and undesirable odour. It is obvious that tourism plays an important role in the socio-economic development of many countries. Hence, for sustainable development, accurate weather forecasts and warnings with effective information on air pollution are essential for planning and for ensuring safe and environmentally sound tourism activities should be made known to tourism industry. Agriculture The impact of air pollution can put a stress on Nigeria agricultural sector with a feed- back on other sectors of the economy. Many third world countries depend on rain to sustain their agriculture economy. Which means that farmers depend solely on rainfall for optimal productivity. As men constantly improve and develop new technologies, urbanize and indistralize it will in turn contribute a high level of pollutants suspended in our environment. The pollutants interacts with other components of the air (e.g. vapour) and chemical transformations occur to form chemical acids (e.g. carbonic, sulphuric, nitric acids, etc) which are absorbed by water droplets in clouds. The droplets fall as acid rain (pH < 5). The consequence of acid rain is evidence on the poor agricultural output. The poor agricultural output can lead to excessive increases in food price. This indirectly leads to third world countries shouldering unecessary burden of the developed country's development. On Health Air pollution contrubutes to many health conditions mainly respiratory infections, heart disease, and lung cancer, The world health organization has mentioned that air pollution may cause breathing, wheezing, coughing and aggravation of existing respiratory and cardiac conditions. These effects can result in increased medication use, increased doctor or emergency room visits, more hospital admissions and in worst cases premature death. Source: http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/sulfurdi/health_sul.html Source: ihy2007.org/img/IHY_'Nigeria'_Abatan.doc Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution